 CHAPTER XXI. THE PROBLEM OF THE SKY SCRAPER. Increasing land values, due to congestion in large cities, coupled with advances in the mechanical arts and steel-skeleton construction, have ushered in a new and perplexing problem for the firefighter. In American cities there is no restriction placed upon the height to which an office or commercial building may rise, as long as certain regulations are complied with in regard to the material used. Height is not prescribed by law, but by economic conditions. Were it possible to provide inexpensive elevator service, there is no reason to doubt that buildings in New York would now have a hundred stories, as there are already several with forty and one with fifty-seven floors. In the old type of factory or commercial building, ranging from one to six stories, the ordinary way of stretching hose lines by stairs and fire escapes provided all the necessary means for the firemen to reach the seat of an outbreak, but in these higher buildings other methods had to be evolved. Standpipes running from the lowest to the highest floors were introduced. At first these were crude affairs, often misplaced and also deficient in size, however experience soon discovered these defects, with the result that in New York an ordinance was passed which it may be well to quote. In every building now erected which exceeds one hundred feet in height, unless already provided with a three-inch or larger vertical pipe, and in every building hereafter to be erected exceeding eighty-five feet in height, and when any such building does not exceed a hundred fifty feet in height, it shall be provided with a four-inch standpipe running from cellar to roof, with one two-way three-inch Siamese connection to be placed on street above the curb level, and with one two-and-a-half inch outlet with hose attached there too on each floor, placed as near the stairs as practical, and all buildings now erected unless already provided with a three-inch or larger vertical pipe, or hereafter to be erected exceeding one hundred fifty feet in height, shall be provided with an auxiliary fire apparatus and appliances consisting of water tank on roof or in cellar, and such other appliances as may be required by the fire department. Standpipes shall not be less than six inches in diameter for all buildings exceeding one hundred fifty feet in height. All standpipes shall extend to the street, and there be provided at or near the sidewalk level with the Siamese connections. Said standpipes shall also extend to the roof. If any of the said buildings extend from street to street, or form an L-shape, they shall be provided with standpipes for each street frontage. As will be seen, this sets a minimum requirement of four-inch standpipes for all buildings over one hundred eighty-five and up to one hundred fifty feet in height, and six inch for all buildings over one hundred fifty feet. In practice it was found that a greater diameter was necessary in order to give more water for firefighting, and recently the diameter was increased to eight inches in buildings over one hundred fifty and six inches for buildings under that height. At this point a brief description of a standpipe, its equipment and operation, may not be out of place. The material used is generally galvanized, sometimes ordinary, black pipe. In the case of very high buildings the main line must be connected by a Y at the street level, giving four three-inch inlets. These inlets to the Siamese have clapper valves, serving as checks to prevent the water from backing out. There is also placed a swing check to prevent the water in the pipe from backing out to the street connection when the line is not in use. This is to prevent freezing in winter time. The object of the pipeline being connected to a tank on the roof is to ensure a supply of not less than three thousand five hundred gallons of water, which will enable the occupants of the building to hold in check an incipient blaze prior to the arrival of the department. All house supply lines for domestic purposes attached to the tank must be tapped in at such a height as to ensure at all times the quantity of water mentioned. A check valve is placed at the bottom of this tank on the standpipe line, set to permit a downward flow and to prevent an upward flow, in case a fire engine or high pressure lines are connected at the street level. The omission of this check would prevent pressure on the floor below as water pumped in would merely overflow from the tank onto the roof. An open hose outlet on the roof will have the same effect as the writer has more than once observed. Officers should carefully note these points in making inspections. Templates should be provided and connections at street level and also those on the outlets on floors should be tested to see that they comply with department standards. It is a very serious matter when a dangerous fire is raging in the upper stories of such structures to find that the connections will not fit the hose and that water cannot be forced through the standpipes except through the medium of inside connections, a somewhat ineffectual expedient, but that hose lines must be stretched twelve, fourteen, sixteen or more stories. To the unthinking this may represent little, but to the experienced firefighter it means much. Very few men would be able to walk up fourteen flights of stairs and then be fit for work on their arrival. Firemen in New York must often climb more than a hundred fifty feet, but it is impossible to drag hose lines up to such height. Although the hose cannot stand the excessive pressure necessary to force water up to this elevation, and even if it were possible the time employed in doing so would permit the fire to extend to such proportions as to destroy the building, with sufficient material on which to feed, a fire will extend in geometrical ratio to elapsed time, which again proves the necessity of speed in order properly to control an outbreak. All signs regarding pipes should be properly placed. Where there are two lines of pipe, one for the sprinklers or perforated pipe system and the other for the standpipe, a mistake or misplacement of the signs indicating their nature will cause serious delay and often great damage. At this point it may be well to state that perforated pipes are a poor substitute for and should be taken out of all buildings and the latter installed in their place. The street connections should not be less than two nor more than three feet from the sidewalk level and at right angles to the building which facilitates the work of connecting up. Should these connections be out of order, lines can be connected to the outlets on the lower floors by means of a double female connection. The method of procedure is to disconnect the house line, put on an increase or two and a half to three inches, leaving a three inch male thread, and this connect to the double female. This will give a three inch female connection for the male end of the hose stretched from the engine or high pressure hydrant. As soon as connection is made, open the valve and start the water. All outlet valves on floor outlets should be of the gate type, which gives a free waterway, whereas the globe type materially reduces the flow. Where several lines are being used on the upper floors of a building and the two or four lines connected to the Siamese are overtaxed, the supply may be augmented by connecting to the lower floor outlets as previously described. In New York, standpipes are used in buildings so equipped when the fire is on or above the fifth floor. Below this point the ordinary method is preferable. The hose provided in these buildings should be of good quality, capable of sustaining the pressure of two hundred pounds, and be fitted with one or one and a eighth inch nozzles. In many cases, through lack of attention on the part of owners or agents to keep the hose in proper condition, the firemen fear to trust it and connect up a department hose using their own controlling nozzles for inside work. In order to describe the actual use of these standpipes and the pressure required to force water to the upper floors of buildings on fire, let it be assumed that there is an outbreak on the sixteenth floor of a twenty-story building. The companies arrive and connect to the standpipe, and as the fire is a threatening one, four lines are led to the Siamese. Hook and ladder and engine company men proceed to the floor directly beneath the fire, by order of the chief, using the elevator for this purpose. The ordinance requires that night and day elevator service must be provided in all buildings over one hundred fifty feet in height. Each company has its instructions, and a battalion chief, in command on the inside, accompanies them. As soon as connections have been made to the Siamese, the chief officer must determine the pressure necessary to furnish effective fire streams on the sixteenth floor, or an approximate height of one hundred seventy feet. The formula for this procedure is to multiply the height of the building by .434, but here there is no time for pad and pencil. The best method is to allow five pounds for each floor of elevation, and at the height above mentioned it can be readily grasped that the result is eighty pounds, seven pounds more than the exact formula, but which will be needed as the standpipe goes from the sidewalk to the basement and perhaps to the sub-basement. This gives the column additional length, and as the standpipe often makes a right-angled turn at the basement level there is an additional loss of pressure at that point. Also there is a nominal friction loss in the pipe itself. The writer's purpose is not to weary the reader with technical details, but it is necessary to explain this procedure for the benefit of commanding officers at fires at greater length than many other subjects with which firemen are more familiar. Therefore five pounds will be allowed to each story for weight, about four pounds friction loss for each fifty-foot length of three-inch hose, five pounds loss at Siamese connections, and ten pounds for entry-head at the valve outlet on the upper floors. It will be assumed that there are two lengths of three-inch hose in each line, giving eight pounds, five pounds for Siamese, eighty for weight of water column, and ten for entry-head, making one hundred three pounds in all. Add to this the force necessary to give effective nozzle pressure, which would be from fifty pounds and upward according to the extent of the fire, and the result is one hundred fifty-three pounds. This of course might be varied if a number of streams were taken off the standpipes, as the friction loss in hose and pipe is as the square of the velocity, that is, if water is travelling at the rate of ten feet a second, the square of ten is one hundred, but let the flow be increased to twenty feet per second, and the square is four hundred, or four times as much. Therefore, while the velocity would only double, the friction loss would be four times greater. Pressures arriving at an outbreak find, as by a predetermined order, that the pressure on the mains is one hundred or one hundred twenty-five pounds. They must judge instantly if additional pressure is required, and order it promptly, though it must be remembered that much damage may be done by excess in this direction. The writer once arrived to take command at a fire in a five-story commercial building. The structure had fifty feet frontage and was two hundred feet deep, and the fire had control of the three upper floors and was threatening surrounding property. The officer found in charge was asked what he had done and if additional companies had been summoned, as there was but a first alarm assignment at work. The reply was, No, sir, I did not send out a second alarm, but I ordered two hundred fifty pounds pressure on the high pressure pumps. This was soon after the installation of the high pressure service and officers had not yet mastered its proper use. In this case one hundred twenty-five pounds was quite sufficient, or at most one hundred fifty, to which point the pressure was immediately reduced and additional forces summoned. The very high and unnecessary pressure might have caused damage to hose, apparatus, pumps, or even men. Officers who wish to master these technical details should study them at leisure in their offices so that they may be available for instant practice at a fire. The best method of fighting fires in lofts or office buildings of great height is to connect the first line at the outlet floor below the fire, lay the line out free of kinks and stretch up the stairs, charge the lines, never be caught with an empty line in hand when the door is opened. Here is where many a man is injured. For his old enemy, backdraft, is just inside, and the moment the door is opened it rushes out with superhuman force. Lie low and like a pugilist duck the blow, and open up the pipe at once. Without going into a scientific discussion of the causes of backdraft, it may be well roughly to define it and to describe its action from a fireman's viewpoint. Plainly stated it is an excessive pressure on a floor where windows and doors are all tightly closed. As the heat increases the air expands, causing a greater pressure on the floor than the surrounding outside atmosphere. When a vent is given there is a blow-out, resembling an explosion, for the pressure must be equalized. In other words the pressure on the floor must be brought down to the corresponding atmosphere on the exterior. The first explosion may be slight, but is often followed by a more dangerous outburst depending upon the degree of heat on that floor. The influx of fresh oxygen supplies abundant fuel for the flames, and the smoke, which is part of the goods imperfectly consumed, bursts into flame and shoots through the opening. This condition must be guarded against, as men may be caught on the stairs and literally roasted. The sudden outburst of flame may also blow out windows on all sides, endangering surrounding property or the floors above. Another and still more dangerous form of backdraft is where a slow burning fire consumes the oxygen in a building tightly sealed. A gas much lighter than air results, and this is particularly aggravated by the nature of certain kinds of goods. As is well known, different chemical changes take place in different kinds of material. A vacuum is formed inside the building, and as soon as the ladder is opened there is an inrush of air, which coming in sudden contact with the gas causes an explosion. The writer has often seen this peculiar phenomenon. The explosion is preceded by an awe-inspiring silence. Nature seems suspended for the moment while the two elements meet. In an instant all is wreck and ruin. Men of experience instinctively feel this condition, and the order to back down and out is instantly given. Though, if in a position where they cannot get away at once, men should drop on hands and knees, covering their faces from the wave of flame, it may pass over without doing damage, when they should instantly arise and keep the pipe open while backing out of danger. Perhaps in all the science of firefighting no part requires more care and attention than the opening of buildings on fire. Many brave men have lost their lives at this dangerous work. At a fire in the stockyards in Chicago, Chief Horan and twenty-three officers and men were killed just as the door was opened. There were no windows in the building through which the pressure could be relieved, and the wall gave way under the strain, burying all who were in front of it. Wherever such conditions are suspected, an opening should be made in the roof. This will relieve the pressure and is a fairly safe method. A brief reference must be made to the following important point. In cases where fire has complete possession of one, two or three floors in a high building, beyond the reach of towers or turrets, great care should be exercised in placing lines above the outbreak. Companies of men with good streams should be at the doors below in order that the fire may not come out and cut off the retreat of the men above. Buildings of this class have more than one stairway and more than one standpipe, and the least exposed position should be chosen in advancing lines to the upper floors. No line should be sent to an upper floor until the companies operating the one below have gained a foothold inside the door, with a reasonable assurance that they can hold that position. Give as much ventilation as possible in order that the ascending smoke and heat may be minimized. Chiefs should avail themselves of rear fire escapes and every other possible point to get ahead of the fire, for should it once become uncontrollable on the upper floors, men cannot be kept in the building and a collapse may momentarily occur. In all buildings of this class fire towers should be provided. These are separate and distinct from the main building, and in order to reach them it is necessary to pass from the floor through a fire-proof door onto a balcony outside the building and through another fire-proof door into the tower itself. Or as a variant to this system there is a plan whereby every building is to be divided into two sections by means of a fire wall running from cellar to roof. This fire wall would have fire-proof doors on each floor, and there is almost no chance of a fire starting simultaneously in both parts of a building so divided. In case of an outbreak in one section the people on each floor would walk through the fire doors to the other section, shut them on the fire, and take their time to reach the street, and firemen could easily gain a foothold on a floor subdivided in this manner. A standpipe in the former case should run from lowest floor to roof through the tower. Firemen could pass ahead of a fire and attack it on each floor with perfect safety. For rescue of occupants this means combined with the aforesaid horizontal fire-proof partitions subdividing the floor area would make these buildings safe for public and firemen alike. Add to these two indispensable requisites a thorough installation of automatic sprinklers and the high building would be shorn of its terrors. In conclusion the writer feels that after the foregoing pages with their somewhat technical details from the layman's point of view it may not be without interest to give some slight description of the greatest skyscraper in the world, the Woolworth Building of New York. Incidentally this gigantic block of masonry was designed by its namesake as a memorial of his earthly success and to the glory of the commercial enterprise of America, including basement and sub-basement it consists of fifty-seven stories and rises to a height of seven hundred ninety feet above sea level with a main frontage of one hundred fifty feet. Thus it will be seen that its height is five times its own width and it is less than five hundred feet short of the Eiffel Tower. It is, of course, of fire-proof steel frame construction. The preparations for the foundations were begun in August 1911 on May 1, 1913 the doors were thrown open to tenants. This represents a period roughly of twenty months during which time nearly three stories must have been added every thirty working days. Besides containing business premises, which incidentally are arranged as regards floor-space to suit the wishes of the tenants, it is equipped with two restaurants, one in the cellar and one on the twenty-ninth floor. One and Turkish baths, a swimming-pool and an ice-plant. All window frames within thirty feet of any other building are of hollow copper glazed with wire-glass. It has four enclosed stairways of iron and marble, though only one extends to the top of the tower. There are twenty-eight passenger elevators built on the most up-to-date fire-resistive principles. For the protection of the building the following equipment has been installed. There are six six-inch risers running from the sub-cellar to the thirtieth floor, two from the thirty-first to the forty-first floor, and one from the forty-first to the fifty-fifth floor, fed by tanks on the following floors. One tank, six thousand three hundred gallons on fourteenth floor, feeds from sub-cellar to twelfth floor, two tanks, ten thousand gallons on twenty-sixth floor, feeds from thirteenth to twenty-fourth floor, one tank, three thousand one hundred gallons on thirty-seventh floor, feeds from twenty-fifth to thirty-fourth floor, two tanks, one six thousand seven hundred gallons, one three thousand two hundred gallons on fiftieth floor, feeds from thirty-fifth to the forty-eighth floor, one tank one thousand two hundred gallons on fifty-third floor feeds from forty-ninth to fifty-third floor. There are four outlets above this tank with no supply. The main riser, six inch, has checks on the fourteenth, twenty-seventh, thirty-seventh, fiftieth and fifty-third floors with checks on the horizontal run. There are two suction tanks in the sub-seller, one thirty feet by nine feet by nine feet, one fifteen feet by nine feet by nine feet. There is a swimming pool in the sub-seller Turkish baths, which can be used as a suction tank, with a capacity of thirty thousand gallons. There is one deem electric pump, three and a half feet by six feet, with a capacity of three hundred gallons per minute. There are in addition five Worthington steam pumps as follows, one twenty feet by nine feet by eighteen feet, five hundred gallons per minute, one twenty feet by ten and a half by fifteen feet, five hundred gallons per minute, one fourteen feet by six and a half by fifteen feet, one hundred fifty gallons per minute, one fourteen feet by six and a half by ten feet, one hundred fifty gallons per minute, one twelve feet by four and a half by ten feet, eighty gallons per minute. All pumps can be operated singly or collectively, and are supplied by street mains as follows, one six inch from Broadway, two three inch from Park Place, two three inch from Barkley Street. Such are a few details of this extraordinary structure, which may be expected to house daily some ten thousand souls, and there is no reason to believe that finality has been reached. Room must be found for the teeming thousands who throng to the business section of New York, and expansion must occur by the way of least resistance. Upward. Twenty-three of Fires and Firefighters by John Kenlon. Not since the first fire department was organized in ancient Rome has there been such an awakening as at the present time, and all countries are vying one with the other in the development of fire-controlling and fire-preventing appliances. In fire control the greatest effort is being made to develop motor-propelled apparatus and motor-driven pumps. The method of propulsion is almost perfected, as all that was necessary was to apply the principles so successful in moving pleasure in commercial vehicles to fire apparatus. But with the motor-driven pump matters are somewhat different. Perhaps no mechanical device used in the control and extinguishing of fire has reached such a high state of perfection as the steam pump. To discard this time-honored and often severely tried machine for a practically untried device, one tried at least under severe conditions, such as being forced to deliver water under high pressure for thirty-five or forty hours or longer, would be unwise. Many American cities have a fire hazard due to old and faulty building construction, narrow streets and severe weather conditions, where it would be almost criminal to install a new type of apparatus until it had been tested in places where the risk would be limited. It was the feeling that absolute reliability must be guaranteed, which caused many cities to hesitate in adopting the motor-driven pump. An extensive field was found, however, for this type of apparatus in suburban settlements and in small towns. In these places the fire-force is usually a voluntary one. Horses are not always available, nor can fuel be easily supplied, and should it happen that there is not sufficient water-pressure in the mains, a motor-propelled and motor-driven pumping machine is a great boon. It requires but one man to take the machine to the scene, and it can be accomplished in one-tenth of the time required for a horse-drawn or hand-pulled engine. Time is all important in such cases, and as the run is often long and the gradient's heavy, great damage may be done before the arrival of the firemen or apparatus, which usually results in the total destruction of the building involved. Therefore, in such places and under such conditions motor-propelled apparatus is, and motor-propelled pumps may be, desirable. But in large cities where great congestion intensifies the fire hazard, the first efforts of manufacturers were not successful in producing a motor-driven pump to meet the requirements of the fire department. The scrap-heap was large in those days, but there is some evidence that it is diminishing. Manufacturers found by the only reliable method, that of experience, that some of their pet ideas were not feasible. Chiefs of fire departments discovered this to their cost, but out of the confusion is being evolved a fairly good motor-fire engine. Naturally it is still lacking in the perfection of the steam pump, but when it is considered that fifty years were required to develop that apparatus, it must be allowed that in possibly one quarter of this period a most excellent motor-driven pump will be in use. The steam pump was brought to perfection along the line of reciprocating motion, steam being particularly adapted to this movement, as shown in all kinds of steam engines, marines, stationery, etc., but the application of a somewhat different force, that of gas explosions, to a piston, developing what is practically a rotary motion, the writer is inclined to think will not be so efficacious. For any man to attempt to condemn the reciprocating system would be folly. It may work, and as a matter of fact does work fairly well, several firms having turned out average machines of this type, but in converting one motion to another there is necessarily the introduction of more complicated gears and a multiplicity of parts, often hard to reach in case of repairs, and there is in any case a loss of power in transmission which would seem to militate against the piston pump. As some pin their faith to the reciprocating style so others favour the rotary. This type seemed to promise success as there was no conversion of motion and the gear was much simpler. However some new and many old defects showed up, and the great fault of excessive slip known to exist in all rotary pumps when run at high pressure was still apparent. Close fitting casings with the introduction of improved springs behind the Gibbs seemed to promise success, but under severe trial were glaringly defective. No chief of experience could be satisfied with this. The manufacturers greatly improved the old rotary type of twenty-five years ago, the diameter of the shaft being increased to take out spring under a high pressure, the shafts were shortened for the same reason. Water pockets between the gears which gave a back pressure were changed by tapping into the pocket or hollowing out the casing and piping around to the discharge, but still there is room for improvement. When a very high pressure is required a point is reached when a rotary pump acts almost like a piston pump, each gear striking a blow exactly like the plunger when the point of closest contact to the casing is reached. This is bound to jar injuriously the entire machine and to wreck it unless it is very strong. Such are a few of the defects which came under the writer's notice when watching tests. There are many things to be said for and against all types, but the opinion may be hazarded that even the makers of these rotary or gear pumps know and admit that this apparatus is not yet the equal of the steam pump. Another type tried with moderate success is the centrifugal, that this would be an immediate success, there is not the slightest doubt, were it not that like the reciprocating pump it is somewhat difficult to use it in conjunction with the motor. In order to obtain a centrifugal pump which will deliver 750 gallons of water per minute at 130 pounds pressure per square inch and come within the weight practical for fire apparatus, it must run at a speed of sixteen to eighteen hundred revolutions a minute. For fire apparatus, at least, this is not practical, for a new difficulty arises that of cooling the cylinders. High speed is possible in fast moving cars when a strong current of air is forced through the radiator, but in fire apparatus, standing stationary at a fire, the designers are confronted by very different conditions. Therefore, in order to obtain the speed, a differential of at least two to one is necessary, or the other alternative must be used, that of increasing the size and driving direct at the same speed as the motor. In the one case there is the differential gear with some loss of power, and in the other a slow but much heavier pump. Could a motor be built that would directly drive a centrifugal pump at a speed of twelve hundred revolutions a minute, it would be the ideal type for motor apparatus, and the writer believes that one will soon be obtainable. As already stated in this volume, there are various devices for raising aerial ladders, some mechanical, others electrical, and still others by means of compressed air. It is not the purpose to hear enter into an explanation of how these devices should be operated as any intelligent fireman can learn their use in half an hour, but a word may be said as to the placing of the ladders themselves. The writer has often seen ladders in such a position that it was quite difficult to work on them to advantage, whether the work was rescuing persons or operating lines. In order to obtain a clear idea of the proper position in which to place a truck so that an aerial ladder may be properly operated, let it be assumed that the ladder is to be raised to a window on the sixth floor of a commercial building. This would be about sixty-five feet from the ground, as the first floor is about fifteen feet and the other is about ten in height. The approximate measurements can be determined by a practical truckman at a glance, and the truck should be set about sixteen feet from the building, with the center of the turntable in line with the center of the window. The point of the fly ladder should extend about fifteen inches above the sill, but care should be taken in placing the same that it should not be permitted to rest heavily on the sill, but should be lowered to within a few inches of it. As soon as the weight of a body is near the top, it will cause the ladder properly to set against the window ledge. Should the ladder be originally placed as above, there is no danger of its buckling in the center. Reference is made to this matter of properly placing ladders on account of the great difference in the width of sidewalks, and some officers accept the sidewalk as an infallible guide. Of course it is not intended that the space should be measured off with a two-foot rule, but a little thought and experience works wonders, and if they would only practice with ladders of various sizes they would quickly pick up the faculty of placing them in the proper position. In the New York Fire Department frequent drills are held, and it is surprising to see how rapidly even untrained men grasp the idea. A poorly placed ladder at a fire is inexcusable. For those who care to go into the subject a little more deeply, and perhaps to practice at the drill school with apparatus, the following rule may be helpful. Divide the height to which the ladder is to be raised by five and add three. Thus take a thirty-five foot ladder, five into thirty-five goes seven times, add three and the result is ten. So the butt of the ladder should rest about ten feet from the building. Or again a seventy-five foot ladder should be placed approximately eighteen feet away and so on. This rule is not worked out to inches, but it constitutes a fair guide when sidewalks are very wide or the reverse, and affords the officer in charge a working basis. A few words may perhaps be appropriate at this point and ent a unique feature of American fire practice, namely the water tower. This apparatus consists merely of a latticework tower mounted on a quadrant through the interior of which passes a hollow tube, through which again an extension tube on the telescopic order is fitted in such a manner that it may be extended in a similar way to the extension ladder. When fully extended the tower is between sixty-five and seventy feet. When not working it is kept in a horizontal position, being raised when necessary either by hydraulic pressure or by springs. It is especially useful in fighting fires in high buildings, and that its adoption is not generally in Europe is due to the fact that local conditions are not as a rule such as to necessitate its employment. Nonetheless the following details may be of assistance to fire chiefs in all parts of the world. In many small fire departments, and for that matter in some of appreciable size, it is customary to use the bed ladders on trucks as water towers. Not being possessed of the ladder apparatus, chiefs are obliged to use a makeshift in order to get a nozzle into an elevated position at fires where a ladder cannot be lowered against the building. A ladder pipe, after the style of turret pipes used on wagons and water towers, should be permanently attached to the underside of the ladder and securely fastened. A length of three inch hose is attached to the pipe and strapped to the ladder with the Siamese connection on the ground. Should a water tower be needed this will effectively take its place. Run in two lines, connect to the Siamese, raise the bed ladder to the desired position, and the stream is controlled from the street by guys, or a man may be sent aloft to direct it. If it appears cumbersome to have an entire length with the Siamese attached, a short length of about ten feet may be used, and it should be kept in position with the pipe near the end, and in case a water tower is needed, the short length is connected with a length of three inch hose carried for the purpose. This will bring the Siamese to the street level and will give mobility to the line. In case there is no stationary pipe on the ladder, an open nozzle should be connected to a length of three inch hose and laid on the ladder with the nozzle pointing through the rounds about two from the top. It must be lashed in position, and if the company contains a practical or even an amateur sailor he should be employed to make the knot. Landsmen ought to be well versed in making such knots in advance as it is useless to instruct a man in such work at a moment when celerity is most necessary. A word of caution should be inserted in connection with the use of aerial ladders as water towers. Although the writer is aware that a ladder so converted is still available, all ladders should not be used for this purpose. Persons in the building may be cut off by the flames, or if the firefighters are pocketed a long ladder may be necessary in order to affect their rescue, and judgment must be used in the number of ladders which may be transformed. Although all that is necessary to do is to shut off the water, disconnect the lines, lower the ladder, ship the steering wheel, and move the truck to the point where it is needed. But it must be remembered that this will take an appreciable length of time, and the fire sweeping toward the imprisoned people will not await the convenience of the department. Hence use caution before converting an escape into a water tower. As to the success of the gasoline motor for hauling apparatus there can be no question. The experimental stage has passed and that of certainty has arrived. The main point is whether the motor should be built in as an integral part of the apparatus, or whether it should be detachable and be in the form of a tractor. In some ways the ladder seems preferable, since should anything happen to the tractor necessitating extensive repairs it is easily disconnected, another tractor attached, and the apparatus kept in service. It appears that this style of traction is coming into general use, and the writer believes will be universally adopted both in fire departments and commercially as time demonstrates its utility. It is beyond the scope of this work to enter into a detailed description of each part of the motor apparatus, but rather to afford some general idea of what experience has taught. A word may be said here and ent the storage battery. Many fire chiefs express a strong preference for this style, and like everything else it is possessed of some good points and a number of bad ones. Thus the batteries deteriorate rapidly when standing still and are expensive to replace. For effective fire service it is necessary to have a set charging continuously, while for heavy grades it is not as certain as gasoline. On the other hand it is easier to operate and is certainly more reliable for starting away in response to an alarm. While still in the experimental stage it is worth watching, for there is no saying what developments may occur which will remove its present disabilities and place it beyond the sphere of the problematical. The intention of the writer is not to express a decided preference for any particular type, but rather to indicate the strong and weak points of apparatus leaving individual chiefs to assess the merits or otherwise of the machines dealt with and thus form their own conclusions. In operating water towers and extension ladders, that is in raising and lowering them, there are several devices, electrical, mechanical, spring and hydraulic, all of which have points in their favour. The electric motor can raise an extension ladder with rapidity and the spring is equally good, some even considering it more certain. Hydraulic power or springs can be employed in raising a water tower. As before emphasized, locality must govern choice and public money should not be lightly spent. In fact the best test is to consider whether were the purchaser paying for the apparatus out of his own pocket he would consider it wise to spend the money. In the foregoing a brief description has been given of the major pieces of motor apparatus and it is now advisable to consider their operation. Hose wagons and runabouts possess no technical features with the exception that they should be strongly built and with sufficient power to carry the loads placed upon them over rough paving and heavy gradients. But the fact should be appreciated that though a piece of apparatus may be seldom in motion, when it is needed it must travel like the wind. All departments have recently shown a tendency to run the hose wagon equipped with chemical tanks ahead as a kind of scout. The writer thoroughly approves of this method. As has been frequently repeated time is everything in firefighting and a few seconds gained may prevent great loss of life and property. The fast moving wagon arrives on the scene before the heavier engine and attacks the fire with chemical lines, remembering in all cases to stretch two and a half inch lines from the nearest hydrants. Upon the arrival of the engine connection is quickly made to the hydrants and preparations commenced to start water in these lines immediately should the condition of the fire warrant such an operation. The old adage never send a boy on a man's errand should be born in mind and therefore never trust entirely to a chemical line. Although it may extinguish the fire and thereby decrease the fire loss, it is utterly useless should the outbreak assume great proportions and under these conditions a good stream of water is an absolute requisite. In residential districts where the houses are detached chemicals will extinguish many fires with the least possible loss. But their use should not be attempted in commercial buildings where great quantities of goods are stored until science has given us a far more effective gas than is it present available. In employing a chemical stream it should be directed low as it is not the quantity of liquid which extinguishes the fire but the gas arising from it which does the work. As it is evident that in order to get the best effect from chemical streams the gas should be confined such streams are of no avail in the open. Where a stream of water is used the correct method is to strike the ceiling with the stream on entering a room which distributes the water. Should the entire contents of a small room be involved the water is spread out like a fan over the whole area when as the writer's old mentor used to say a dash will put it out. The next points to be considered are engine and high pressure streams. As the homeopathic and the allopathic doctors always disagree about the strength of a dose of medicine so there is always a difference of opinion amongst fire chiefs as to the size of nozzles to be used and the pressure required in delivering streams at fires. In the old days the volunteers christened their machines, the Niagara, the cataract, the deluge, names to denote overwhelming power as it was the idea to drown everything in sight. Even today there is evidence in some quarters that this desire still remains. Nozzles two, three, and even four inches in diameter are sometimes used. Naturally common sense should govern the matter for though there are instances where one powerful stream may save the day there are others where several small streams are far more effective. Take as an illustration the case of the equitable fire. The strong gale drove the fire toward Nassau and Cedar Streets, the latter only twenty-seven feet wide and the former about forty-five and the flames raged along Cedar Street for a distance of three hundred seventy five feet and on the Nassau Street side for nearly two hundred feet. Here was a line of five hundred seventy five feet to be protected in narrow thoroughfares where the high buildings had windows of plain glass. One, two, three, or even four powerful streams would not have had the desired effect. It required a perfect water curtain along the entire front and the only way to accomplish this was to cover the buildings with a deluge from small streams supported by two-inch streams from the water-towers to drive the fire back. Such an effective curtain resulted from this method that not a single pane of glass was broken in the windows of the exposed buildings in the streets mentioned. It was as though a heavy musketry fire from an entrenched army, backed by a few pieces of artillery, had checked the advance of a storming party. That this was wonderfully successful may be gathered from the underwriter's report which states that it was effective to a remarkable degree, and the writer would add was the only means under the conditions existing at this fire which would have accomplished the desired result. This is the homeopathic method. Now consider the allopathic side. To give an example, last autumn an explosion took place in a sulfur works built on a dock in Williamsburg, borough of Brooklyn. A strong southwest wind was blowing, and directly across the street were situated the oil yards of the standard oil company, while at a distance of only forty-five or fifty feet were extensive hay sheds one thousand feet in length. A more dangerous combination is difficult to conceive. A fourth alarm was immediately transmitted by the district chief on his arrival, followed by a borough call which brought another third alarm assignment. On the writer's arrival he found a most dangerous fire confronting him. The entire building of the sulfur works was involved, the flames shooting a hundred feet into the air, the hay sheds had ignited, and the flames were rolling over the oil tanks to Leeward. Deputy Chief Langford, with eight engine companies and a fire boat, was assigned to the Leeward position in the oil yards, and six companies under Deputy Chief Lally were placed in the street between the hay sheds and the latter. Although the water supply was ample, the combined force of these fourteen companies using powerful streams was not sufficient to drive back the wave of fire which momentarily threatened to envelop the oil yards and bring great destruction to life and property. The fire boat Abram S. Hewitt had worked her way in to within seventy-five feet from the head of that threatening and destructive sea of fire. She was operating about eight one-and-three-quarter inch and one-and-a-half inch streams. The order was given that all streams should be shut down with the exception of two one-and-a-half inch which were operating under Langford in the yards, and that a three inch nozzle should be put on the large monitor at the top of the pilot house. The full force of the pumps was then thrown into that nozzle, giving a pressure of one-hundred forty-five pounds and a discharge of more than three thousand gallons per minute. The effect of this was to crush the head of that fiery wave and roll it back and hold it, giving the men operating the smaller streams a chance to advance. Compare the two examples. In one, a threatening fire had spread over a great area, in the other, a terrific wave of flame was concentrated within a narrow space, a cyclone in the first instance, a tornado in the second. So it will be seen that in firefighting both homeopathic and allopathic methods are required, but if the fire can be extinguished with a small stream a large one should never be employed. How best to judge the size of the dose the writer is unable to tell, as each doctor diagnoses his own case, so each chief must make his own working diagram, and like some physicians many firefighters have better discernment and keener judgment than others, sometimes born of greater experience and sometimes more or less intuitive. All countries are looking for good men and paying liberal salaries and each must study and fit himself for the ordeal. No maps or charts are available, the surroundings must be noted and the decision must be prompt and effective. The intelligent operation of apparatus by members of firefighting forces is an absolute essential successfully to cope with their enemy. The direction of streams at a fire is almost akin to gunfire from a battleship. Shot and shell can be, and indeed very often are, wasted due to defective gunnery. Streams thrown into a building at an improper angle are useless, when by a little judgment on the part of the officer in charge much more effective work could be accomplished. This is particularly true of water towers and turret pipes. In placing a tower in front of a building, a little quick thinking on the part of the officer in command of the apparatus would often make a great difference. To begin with, a tower should never be placed far to windward, except under orders from a superior. Ninety-nine times in a hundred the fire will work to leeward, so the tower should be in the position whence the fire can be fought back from that side. The mast should be extended high enough to give the stream an arc which will enable it to strike the ceiling of a particular floor about twenty to thirty feet inside the window. As in gunnery practice, the best arc is at about forty degrees elevation, but as a tower stream is not directed at a target but must be operated over the entire front of a building, judgment should be used in its placing and elevation in the beginning. In connecting lines to a tower, deck pipe or turret pipe on a wagon, about one length fifty feet of extra hose should be allowed. This is to give the apparatus a certain degree of mobility, as it often becomes necessary to move a tower or a wagon, and should there be no spare line it cannot be accomplished. Officers ordered to connect to water-towers or wagons should bear this in mind. Too much rigidity is undesirable, and by having fifty feet of range in front of the burning building much more effective work can be accomplished, especially in these days when motor apparatus is so easy to move. While on this theme it may be wise to touch briefly on the size and pressure of streams, the use of a water tower or of a wagon turret pipe presupposes the necessity for water under high pressure. Some chiefs have contended that a higher pressure than one hundred pounds at the nozzle is impracticable, saying that when the pressure goes over this nozzle velocity it is so high that the stream is torn to pieces, whipped into a foam, causing it to break and scatter a few feet from the nozzle. This contention is only partly true, for admitting that the higher the nozzle velocity, the greater the tendency of the stream to disintegrate, on the other hand the higher nozzle velocity gives a greater volume and a much heavier striking force. These latter are prime requisites in firefighting. A blow struck or a thrust delivered with moderate strength has not the same effect as a blow with good muscle behind it, and in big fires it is often the power of the blow which counts. The stream which strikes with force will knock out the fire as a prize-fighter knocks out his opponent. The writer favors higher pressure when necessity demands, though this is again a matter of judgment. In the army and navy rangefinders are employed to enable officers in charge of guns to sight properly and direct their fire. Firefighters operate under such conditions that many times they are unable to see even the buildings, much less the windows or openings through which the streams are to be directed. In such cases all must be left to judgment and experience. When a heavy body of fire is rolling out of a building, the writer would use a nozzle pressure of from one hundred to one hundred fifty pounds. This gives volume and that striking force which, as already stated, are absolutely necessary in many instances. Before passing from this subject it may be well to give a rule by which men may be guided in placing apparatus of the type under consideration. Good firemen fight at close range, and it is seldom that the occasion arises which keeps them at a distance, but under such conditions a stream will do effective work allowing one foot of distance for each pound of nozzle pressure up to one hundred pounds. Above this point it is a little less, but it is useless to go further into this matter as the occasion should never arise when it is necessary to fight a fire at a greater distance than that of one hundred feet. In some instances the actual distance covered by the stream is greater when the nozzle is at, on, or near grade level. The point of delivery may be fifty feet above grade level, and those who care to amuse themselves and at the same time improve their knowledge can use the old rule. The square root of the sum of the squares on the two sides of a right-angle triangle is equal to that of the hypotenuse. The main point is to know the distance to which a certain pressure will deliver effective fire streams. Hydraulic engineers like J. F. Freeman and others give distances, always under settled weather conditions, but a fire chief cannot wait for a calm day, so the confronting conditions must be figured out. A little thought will make a most wonderful improvement, and it will be found by experience that men can estimate within a few pounds of the exact pressure at a nozzle. This will be treated exhaustively in the appendix. In dealing with the effect of additional lines in the tower, deck, or turret pipes, it must be stated that in most departments the orders require a company stretching to the tower, deck, or turret pipes to lay in two lines. Now, if a two-inch nozzle is used on the tower mast, much better streams will be obtained by immediately adding another three inch line. It may be assumed that a nozzle pressure of one hundred pounds is required from a two-inch nozzle. This is equivalent to a discharge of one thousand two hundred gallons of water per minute. In order to obtain this pressure, each of the first two lines would be delivering six hundred gallons per minute, and the addition of the third line would cause this flow to be reduced to four hundred gallons for each one. As the friction loss is equal to the square of the velocity, and as the velocity is governed by the flow, the result would be something like this. Four hundred times four hundred equals one hundred sixty thousand, six hundred times six hundred equals three hundred sixty thousand, or as sixteen is to thirty-six. Therefore, friction loss would be more than twice as great as in the first case. This takes the writer back to the source of supply, whether it be a fire engine, a high pressure pump, or water under force of gravity, which becomes the determining factor as to what pressure should be. If it is decided to force twelve hundred gallons per minute through two lines, the pressure must be higher at the pump than if the same quantity were forced through three lines in order to give the same nozzle pressure. In the case of water delivered under high pressure by pump or force of gravity, where there is a pre-determined pressure, the additional line gives a better flow, less friction loss, and consequently a higher nozzle velocity. The chief officer must determine whether it is better to attach the additional line, thereby taking up the services of an engine, or to use the third opening in the hydrant to which a line might be connected for service at some other point where it was badly needed. In this chapter the writer has had no thought of actually discussing fire strategy. All he has hoped to do has been to point out some of the situations which develop at fires, and to impress upon those responsible that their minds should act quickly and that all contingencies should be met with promptitude. End of Section 23, Recording by Maria Casper. Section 24 of Fires and Firefighters by John Kenlon. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 23 The Two Platoon System Any consideration of the factors governing firefighting would be incomplete were the personal equation neglected. In other words, the status of the fireman in relation to the community as a whole. The foregoing pages have made it abundantly evident that he who wishes to follow the calling as a life's work must be possessed of qualities out of the common. Apart from pluck and physical endurance he must be prepared to attack the subject from its scientific standpoint and to devote to it his undivided interest and attention, that is to say if he would rise superior to his volunteer predecessors. And it must never be forgotten that these latter brought unlimited enthusiasm to their self-imposed task if nothing else. But in these days firefighting has passed the stage of the dilettante, it has grown into a serious science, and as such has a right to demand that its votaries shall be experts in their own line, and that the huge responsibilities of lives and property entrusted to their care shall be no haphazard proceeding but the result of serious consideration and selection. Now latterly a feeling has sprung up which roughly propounds the theory that the fireman should be the hired servant of the municipality nothing more and nothing less. His engagement is to be of a temporary nature, bounded only by so many hours' work per DM for so much pay. He is to be considered when not actually on duty as free as the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker, and from the moment when he leaves his fire station what he does and how he does it is to be his own business and no one else's. This is to all intents and purposes what the advocates of the two-platoon system would have the public believe is to the advantage of fire departments the world over. For twelve hours the fireman is to be on duty, and for the other twelve he is to be a private citizen free from all trammels and restrictions which might tend to hamper his sacred liberty. It is a high sounding and truly attractive doctrine, only having due regard for the efficiency of this most important of departments, how can such a method be expected to yield satisfactory results? In France and Germany the barracks system is worked no doubt to an extreme, which would be distasteful and unpopular in any country where conscription was not the general practice. There the fireman is practically under military law and the slightest breaches of discipline are punished with martial severity, whilst individual freedom is necessarily much curtailed. But there is no advantage in riding a hobby to death, and both in England and in some cities in the United States, a via media has been evolved, different in detail but alike in essentials, which ensures the efficiency of the service and discipline with the least possible inconvenience to those concerned. In England the fireman is a municipal servant, he is provided with quarters, whether married or single, and is granted so much leave every year. In addition he receives free medical attention and certain allowances according to the town in which he happens to be serving. But all the time when not absent with permission he is available for duty, as is the soldier or the sailor. This appears a common sense system of enabling a municipality to assess with some degree of certainty the probable fire risks it will be called upon to incur should it either increase or decrease the fire department, while it can always count upon the services of its enlisted men. New York has gone further and allows its fireman to live at home, have their meals there, and to spend their spare time in the society of their families, far removed from the noise and bustle of the average fire station. In fact the system evolved may be taken as one of encouragement to home life and happy surroundings, the antithesis of arbitrary militarism and the curtailing of the individual's freedom. Only the demands of the situation are such that it is imperative that at all times and seasons the men of the department, except when specially excused, should be available for instant duty. Now though comparisons may be odious, what alternative system is advocated by the upholders of the two-platoon theory? For twelve hours one watch or division of men is to be employed, their place is taken by another group of similar strength. And supposing some great conflagration occurs demanding the combined energies of the entire department, what then? Presumably messengers would have to be employed to whip up the contingent off duty, who from their standing would be within their rights in demanding overtime, who perhaps could not be found, and if found might demur to answering a call which was not obligatory, and who from their anomalous position might be forgiven if they imported an opera-boof touch into subsequent proceedings and kept a fire burning so long as might suit the financial status of those principally concerned. In addition, what guarantee would be forthcoming that the night shift would arrive in the best of conditions to carry out arduous work if called upon to do so? It has been proved from experiments made along these lines that it is by no means uncommon for the so-called firemen to practice his trade as bartender or undertaker all day, and then turn up at the station in the evening for fire duty in order to make a little extra. It goes without saying that that species of extra time is costly alike to human life and property, and that a fire department built upon such principles is indeed founded upon sand. The truth of the whole matter would appear to be, in the opinion of the writer, that amongst the younger generation there is a strong aversion to discipline, even of the broadest kind, which interferes not at all with the liberty of the subject, and is only ordained that some systemization of duty and responsibility may result. Further, it is of paramount importance in these days of labour unrest that any body so vitally essential to the welfare of the public at large should be safeguarded from any interference from labour organisation outside itself. Once the department becomes analogous with street railways or dry-good stores for its labour supply, then a long farewell may be said to any continuity of action, of policy, of training, and of general organisation. Men will come and go at will, bearing in mind that their status is no different from that of any other daily worker. Esprit décor, a vital force in firefighting, will vanish, and in place will be instituted a body devoid of any other consideration than that of making that little bit extra. An inspiring ideal, in truth. Chapter 24 Underwriters and Salvage Corps Although not actually connected by organisation with the fire department, at least in the United States and England, the salvage corps is nonetheless an important essential in the whole scheme, and as such demands some attention in a volume of this kind. The business of the firefighter is, as his name indicates, to fight fires. The saving of property and merchandise from the effects of water is the particular field of the salvage corps, and thus it is that separate organisations have been evolved for this express purpose. In New York this work is officially recognised and supported by all the insurance companies doing business in the city, supreme executive control at fires being vested in the officer in charge of the firefighters, in fact, the salvage corps might not in aptly be compared with the medical and nursing branch of an army. A battle occurs, and obviously the combatants have no time to look after the wounded or to succour the dying. Their business is first and foremost the crumpling up in defeat of their antagonist, and until that is accomplished all other considerations are relegated to the background. But humanity demands that the stricken shall be saved, if possible, and that suffering shall be alleviated, hence the presence of a large staff of doctors and nurses who otherwise have no connection with the events of the moment. They are distinct from the fighters, but admittedly necessary to them. Further, of course, they are under the supreme authority of the general commanding. Anything in the nature of divided control would be fatal alike to all concerned. This brief explanation is rendered necessary since the functions and position of those operating in salvage corps is too little understood, and in fact their present status of a semi-independent entity is anomalous and not in the best interests of all parties. Now who are the persons involved? Firstly, property owners themselves, who, whether insured or no, are at least presumed to desire as little destruction wrought to their goods as is possible, which can often be accomplished by covering up, wiping down, and pumping out. Secondly, the insurance companies. Since with this assistance they may save the wastage of a complete loss, and at any rate realize a small proportion of the risks involved. Hence it is that a regularly paid corps of professional salvage men is maintained at the expense of these companies in some of the great towns of America and in London, those in the United States being generally known as fire patrols. The strength of the New York corps consists of thirty-eight officers and one hundred ninety men divided into ten patrols. The salvage wagons in service are of the usual type, carrying such apparatus as covers, door-openers, axes, shovels, squeegees, and other equipment especially suitable to their needs. During the last year for which figures are available, 8,415 outbreaks were attended, the most calls in any one month being 802 in December. In that month the duration or service amounted to 755 hours, while 3,531 covers were spread and 136 roof covers placed in position. Chicago maintains a corps of eight companies consisting of 71 permanent and 33 auxiliary men, the work accomplished having due regard to the territory involved being efficient. Incidentally annual reports are issued giving statistics and ent the forces together with figures of the values they have protected, which of course is as it should be and is only mentioned as a comparison with the extraordinary and agronistic condition of affairs in London. Here is the largest city in the world, with property values almost beyond estimate. It is asserted that the per capital loss is insignificant compared with that of American cities, but at the same time it would be imagined that salvage service would be carried out upon certain well-established lines. Yet as a matter of fact the London Salvage Corps, to give it its official title, is a purely private organization equipped and supported by certain of those insurance companies underwriting fire risks. The word certain is used advisedly, since not all of those dealing in the local fire risks subscribe. Hence it is a purely private undertaking, and as such responsible to no public body except in the same degree as a private individual, no annual report is published except to those directly concerned, the strength of the corps in officers and men is not officially issued, and any statistics of property values, percentage of losses, etc., if tabulated at all, are certainly not forth coming from this body, at present benignly commanded by Colonel Fox. Of the annual report, such as it is, the following excerpt from a letter speaks for itself. At the end of the year a brief confidential statement is given out to the members which statement is not illuminating in details. In other large English cities salvage arrangements are altogether lacking, as is also the case in the smaller American centers of population. The reason for this is not far to seek. If the insurance companies have to pay the piper, they cannot be expected to establish in communities with minor property values, organizations which, on the face of it, must be costly experiments. Hence two clauses of objection may be framed upon the existing state of affairs, which cast no slur upon those intimately concerned, but are simply concomitants of an archaic system. Firstly, no matter how cordial the relationship existing between the fighting force and the salvage core, and no matter how rigorously it is insisted that the chief is in supreme control at an outbreak, with the best intentions in the world, on occasion misunderstandings are bound to arise, which, if not hazardous, are at least unpleasant, unnecessary, and not in the best interests of discipline. There is always the natural tendency for the subordinate to resent taking orders from any other than his superior officer, and though the chief and his aides may be recognized by the non-combatant forces as in executive command, at a large fire neither the chief nor his staff can be everywhere, and orders have to be transmitted, which, to comply with the hard and fast etiquette of the situation, would be cumbersome and impossible. Therefore it would appear a common sense policy to arrange some form of amalgamation. This should offer no insuperable difficulty, as some method of meeting the additional cost could be evolved in consultation with the insurance companies. Which introduces the second clause. As at present arranged, the maintenance constitutes a severe tax upon those concerned, and there is no doubt that better administration would result from the union. In addition there is no reason why the individual property owner should not bear his share of the costs involved in the saving of his goods from unnecessary damage by water consequent upon fighting a fire. Of course it may be argued that if he is already insured he is paying twice, but the adjustment of premiums under such circumstances would be a matter of no great moment. Certainly in New York and in America generally there is this to be said for the salvage corps, namely that they are responsible bodies maintained by statute, and thus under the supervision of recognized authorities. In England, however, there appears to be a total absence of organized departmental control, and the relationship existing between the London County Council which supports the London Fire Brigade, and the London Salvage Corps which is as much a private concern as William Whiteley or John Wanamaker, is purely dependent upon the good will of the former. In fact, to go a step further it is hard to see what means could be adopted if the County Council vetoed the presence of the salvage corps at fires. Of course such an occasion would never arise, only in marshalling fire forces, as in marshalling the array of an army, nothing should be left to chance, nothing should be haphazard, and all contingencies should be foregarded. And since the general commands a fighting machine composed of combatants and civil units, and the admiral, a personnel, a proportion of whom are either clerks or semi-laymen, so should a firefighter and his non-combatant ally serve under one flag, recognize one chief, and be brothers in a common cause, there is no good reason why this should not be accomplished, and that till now it has not been consummated has been due largely to the apathy of those in responsible control. Any general consideration of the problems connected with fire insurance is quite beyond the scope of this volume, at the same time, however, it may be of interest to quote certain comparative data, and in addition the writer is happy to give prominence to the good work being accomplished by underwriters in the United States. It is a common failure in America, generally to condemn certain social factors as being responsible for this, that, or the other occurrence. The acute observer will have noticed that under no circumstances is the individual unit ever responsible for the sequence of events. Come murder, rapine, pillage, or earthquake, it is always that inconsiderate somebody else, corporate or incorporate, who is to blame. Never under any circumstances has that wonderful individual unit been in error, and the same might oppositely be said of the press. Clever writers with brilliant pens overflowing with ink, between eleven o'clock at night and two in the morning, will, with the utmost complacence, label corporations or persons in a genial way as rogues, vagabonds, or villains, accepting always that their readers will take their remarks with that proverbial grain of salt which is necessary to a true appreciation of the journalistic cuisine. Unfortunately the average reader is stolid, unsuspicious, and indiscriminating. He rarely sees beyond his nose. He never reads between the lines, and he is, as a child, in the complicated moves in the game of publicity and policy pursued by many, which remarks may be accepted for what they are worth. Few acquainted with public life will honestly controvert them, and for the rest their opinion is of equal value too, though of far less weight than that of the writers mentioned. Thus it is that a compliment must be paid to the National Board of Fire Underwriters, which in the United States is doing a great deal toward the education of the general public in the matter of fire risks. The following excerpt taken from the address of an officer of the Northern Assurance Company of London is worthy of quotation. The phenomenal growth of this country, the United States, of which all its citizens are proud, has been accompanied by the creation of enormous commercial and manufacturing establishments, great concentration of property values, and congested areas in our large cities, each containing hundreds of millions of dollars of values subject to destruction by fire. This extraordinary commercial and manufacturing growth makes necessary a corresponding increase in credits. To meet this need for larger credits, the banks have been made larger, and are being made larger all the time. One of the most important and essential foundations of credit is fire insurance. This is now so well understood that it is unnecessary to dilate upon it. As the great growth in business requires a corresponding increase in credits, which in turn makes necessary larger banking facilities, so the concentration of values all over the country in individual businesses and in congested city centers makes it necessary that fire insurance companies should have large and increasing reserves and loss-paying abilities. Under a general system of state-made rates, fire insurance companies would undoubtedly find themselves unable to build up large reserves, and there would be no inducement to make them large by capitalization. The welfare of the country requires that fire insurance companies should have the opportunity to create large reserves, with which to meet large conflagration losses, such as have several times occurred and must be expected to occur again. Inability to meet such crises would cause serious and perhaps dangerous panics. The average underwriting profit made by all the companies has been paltry, as will hereafter appear, and furnishes no justification for state-rating board laws on the ground of excessive profits. The smallness of the average underwriting profit shows that the dividends to stockholders have been paid from interest and dividends from investments, and also that reserves have been augmented from the same sources. It is therefore apparent that excessive rates have not been charged and the proceeds distributed to stockholders. The above may be an ex-part statement, but on the face of it it contains a thorough realization of the condition of the fire risks in America. Time and again it is insisted by the underwriters that it is the conflagration hazard which renders any approach to systematic or scientific underwriting practically impossible. If, as in Vienna, it were feasible to confine every fire to the building in which it originated, which can obviously be accomplished when houses are constructed upon a detached system, then the problem would be simplified. If, as in Germany, a man having a fire on his premises is held guilty of misdemeanor until he proves that its inception was beyond his control, or if, as his operative in France, a man having a fire extending beyond his own premises were held financially responsible, then again the problem would be simplified. But probably the sanest and most hopeful method of combating the huge fire losses in the United States is by the gradual instruction of the masses to a proper realization of fire control and what it means. To this end the National Board of Fire Underwriters has most distinctly added its quota of assistance. By the publication of useful brochures and by the issuance of bulletins apropos to certain occasions when fires most commonly occur, such as Christmas Day with its Christmas trees and candles, and Independence Day July 4th with its indiscriminate use of fireworks, no one, however partisan, can deny that this is useful work and of the greatest public benefit. Annually the fire loss in the United States may be roughly assessed at $250 million, or 59,999,999 pounds sterling. This is naturally only a broad estimate, for to be irritatingly accurate the estimated loss for 1911 was $217 million, though in 1906 it was over $500 million, the latter figure to be sure due to the San Francisco disaster. But taking even $200 million as the annual wastage, it would be profoundly interesting to know how much of that colossal total was due to the carelessness of the individual. It is beyond the can of man how to arrive at such figures, but the writer can testify from personal experience, and has emphasized again and again in the preceding pages, that the human element plays a preponderating part in providing work for the firefighter. There is always something fascinating in picturing in the mind's eye all the wonderful things which might be, were such and such a factor, eliminated from the social fabric, the pacifist who dreams of disarmament and international peace, is won't to enlarge upon what the reduction of the army and navy estimates would mean to the masses. A secretary of the Treasury or Chancellor of the Exchequer with a hundred million dollars unallocated to any particular purpose in these dreary days is as rare as the Dodo, in fact he is non-existent, but supposing such amazing boulevard cement of conditions did occur, it is only possible to surmise how that money might be spent for the good of the community. It appears on the face of it so fantastic, so irrelevant to the issues of the moment, and so far removed from practical politics, and yet implant in the individual the fundamental features of the dangers of fire and of the easiness of those ordinary precautions which in themselves are simple to the verge of puerility, but in the aggregate count for so much, then there might be a reasonable chance of the materialization of that seemingly far-fetched dream. Hence, all means to that end are to be encouraged, and the work being accomplished by the National Board of Underwriters is deserving of more than passing praise on that score, for that there is need of some guidance can be gleaned from the following figures, which making every allowance for climatic extremes, a fruitful source of fires, and constructive encouragement to the flames in the shape of the employment of wood as a building material, still evidence a remarkable gulf between fire-risks in Europe and the United States. Thus, whereas the per capita loss in the United States for the year 1911 was $2.62, for England it averaged only 53 cents, for France 81 cents, for Germany 21 cents, and for Russia only 8 cents. These figures are not absolutely conclusive since they are based upon the reports sent in from centers of population, and no account can well be taken of the country in sparsely populated districts. But as regards the United States it may be remarked that the 298 cities upon which that average is framed represent a population of 31 million people, among whom there is fire protection. In no foreign city does the per capita loss approach $5, one pound, though excluding conflagrations, 32 cities in the United States surpass that figure. The highest fire loss in England, curiously enough, was in the ancient city of York, which with a population of only 82,000 shows a per capita loss of $2.73, 11 shillings, which compares unfavorably with the town of Yonkers near New York with the same population, and a per capita loss of $1.73. For London the per capita loss was 54 cents based upon a population of seven and a quarter million people, which evidently included its suburbs and not the county proper. The per capita loss in Paris was 60 cents, for Hamburg only 18 cents, for St. Petersburg 93 cents, for Moscow $1.46, exemplifying excellently the rise in loss occasioned by extremes of climate and wooden buildings, while the city of Vancouver heads the list with $2.61. These are statistics which cannot fail to provide food for the thoughtful. For fire wastage is a literal translation of the phrase commonly used to emphasize the extravagance of the individual, burning money. Finding money for the provision of armaments which may never be used is often decried as hideous waste, though there is something tangible to show for the expenditure. What then can be said in defense of a loss to every man, woman, and child in the United States of over two dollars per annum with a visible result only of charred ruins and possible suffering? CHAPTER XXV CONCLUSION It is the experience of most writers on themes peculiarly their own that when the time comes to surrender the pen, only then do they realize how much more should have been added to the material collected, how much more clearly certain details might have been explained, and how altogether inadequate is the sum total of their labours, and so it is as regards this work. The term firefighting possesses such an immense significance that it would require many portly tomes to deal exhaustively with all its intricate problems. For as fast as one offshoot receives attention, another crops up hydra-like, and it becomes a question of serious consideration what proportion of notice if any should be allotted to many subsidiary branches of the main theme. Thus it is only feasible, by using judgment, to scrape the surface of the vast field of investigation, and by as skillful handling as may be to sow the seeds of fresh thought in the public mind, which in time may germinate and bring forth a rich harvest of action. This indeed has been the chief inspiration of this volume. Those interested scientifically, will, it is hoped, have found the wherewithal to wet their appetite for further research, and there is no doubt that there are problems without number awaiting the probe of the investigator in the domain of fire-control, problems which demand the maximum of mental efficiency, patience, and determination. But the larger portion of the reading public demand the note of human interest, and as far as lay within the scope of the material this has been supplied, for it is a trite commonplace that to arouse enthusiasm or a proper realization of the true inwardness of any subject, appeal must be made to the senses, and it appears of paramount importance to the writer that the man in the street should be aroused from the lethargy he habitually displays over questions appertaining to fires and their prevention. Terrible lessons are taught, and as speedily forgotten, not because the individual is unable to grasp the significance of the occurrences, but rather because the teachers are intangible elemental forces which cause disaster and await the skill of the human instructor to amplify and explain their lessons, and it may be said that until recently such instructors were sadly lacking. In the first place the search after wealth is so keen nowadays, and monopolizes attention to such an extent, that occupations promising only a moderate financial sufficiency are to a certain degree shunned by the enterprising and the ambitious, with the result that those enlisting in their ranks are often devoid of that enthusiasm, the magnetism of which is so overwhelming that it communicates itself to others and sweeps into its net the youth and strength of a nation. With such material what can be expected? Any individual adopting a calling merely as a means to obtaining the bear wherewith all to exist rarely earns his wage, his duties are rendered just so efficiently as to escape censure and no more. Now without any savor of supreme conceit the writer hazards the statement that for a change toward better things the fire departments in the United States are responsible. In the first place the magnitude of the risks involved has impressed itself upon the thinking portion of the community, and it has at length been realized that if an army and navy are necessary adjuncts to the safety of the Republic then most assuredly the organization of a first-class firefighting force is necessary for the safety of the homes of the people, and that is the chief factor in the situation. Financial losses may be huge, but they will not appeal to the heart of a community to the extent of the death of one child by the flames. To deal Sarayatim with the crucial points of each chapter in the foregoing pages is out of place in this conclusion, since if each in turn has not been sufficiently conclusive then the carpenter in this instance cannot blame his tools but himself. However it may have been noticed that on occasion comparisons, those most odious of things, have been instituted, while criticism has seldom been far distant when dealing with foreign departments. It almost seems superfluous to state that whatever has been penned has been actuated by no carping spirit, but rather to bring out some obscure point or to emphasize some necessary moral. If every fire department was organized on precisely similar lines then assuredly the fire fiend would play more havoc than it habitually does, since in firefighting as in other spheres of life one man's meat is another's poison, and most assuredly what will suit the requirements of one locality will most hopelessly fail in another. Further, criticism is a life-giving sap to any industry or profession, or for that matter to any human enterprise. Devoid of this spur achievement would quickly cease from sheer inanition, and in as much as trees from time to time need pruning for their better growth he would be a sorry gardener who hesitated over the task lest perchance he might injure some branch or offshoot. Hence the writer hopes that all his remarks will be accepted with the same good nature as that with which they are offered, for there is need today for cohesion and mutual support amongst those who have made and are making of firefighting their life's work. This applies to all countries without exception, though there may be some slight difference in usage and organization. It is a peculiar reflection on human character, and not altogether a pleasant one, that recognition of services rendered is too often overlooked unless there is an accompaniment of glittering uniforms and the blare of many bands. Stand in the limelight, make use of every channel whereby publicity may be gained, and ipso facto the end may be attained. From mouth to mouth spreads this spurious fame, municipalities recognize it and governments decorate for it. Now those in the firefighting profession, though discounting the hollow adulation of the ignorant and assessing at its proper worth an evanescent popularity which is of no permanent value, may be forgiven if at moments they yearn for some sincere acknowledgment from those whose lives and property they day by day protect. Of course it may be argued by some that they are paid for their services which is all they should expect, but there are equally those who will query if their wages are equivalent to a daily risk of life and limb, unknown even to the professional fighter, the soldier and the sailor. As a matter of history probably every fireman in every fire brigade in the world is only too ready and too willing to go to any extremity in order to save a human life. Surely it is not pleading for too much if then there may be some sympathetic recognition of the fact without the aid of brass bands in cheap publicity. Of course the press agent, that questionable offshoot of modern journalism, will accomplish wonders, and be it added that though not blessed too liberally with this world's goods there are those who regard their dignity as above such methods of currying renown. This is particularly written inent firefighters of every rank and nationality. They do their work, and if a grateful community is too busy or too engrossed with its own affairs to mind their deeds, their sacrifices, or their welfare, then they accept the situation, though they may be forgiven if at moments it does seem to them a little callous, a little unfair, and not all together consider it. Reading an English newspaper the other day, the writer came across a story of simple heroism which he may be pardoned for reproducing with some detail. It is by no means an uncommon occurrence. It possesses no limelight effect, and the surroundings of the event by no possible stretch of the imagination could be described as exhilarating or of a nature to inspire desperate courage. Rather are all the facts the reverse of these, but the narrative exemplifies that silent heroism which is no monopoly of any fire department in any country but is rather the heritage of precedent handed down from time immemorial and which carries with it that glorious superscription for a greater thing can no man do than that he lay down his life for another. The excerpt is here given practically word for word. That heroism is by no means confined to the battlefield or to the wild corners of the world's surface was exemplified once again by what happened in London on Tuesday when the gallantry and cheerful self-sacrifice of the men of the London Fire Brigade was displayed. Two of them lost their lives in a splendid attempt to rescue a number of workmen overtaken in a rush of poisonous sewer gas under the road in Pembridge Street, Notting Hill. The men were employees of the Kensington Corporation. One of them was suffocated before he could be reached, and four of his comrades came within an ace of suffering that same terrible fate. They were all struck down unconscious before they could be hauled out. A dangerous and threatening leakage of gas was the cause of the trouble. The leakage was reported to the Kensington authorities some time before noon, and the five sewer men were immediately dispatched to locate it. Dressed in their heavy uniform and armed with safety lamps, they descended the manhole in Pembridge Street to search for the source of the trouble, leaving as his customary a mate on sentry above ground. They had not been down long before one of the men reappeared at the top of the manhole livid and gasping for breath. He was only able to gasp out that his mates were knocked over by the suffocating fumes before he collapsed on the pavement. A message was immediately sent to the Fire Brigade Station, and a large crowd assembled as the firemen dashed up from Bayswater, Notting Hill, Kensington, Houston, and other stations. There were scenes of great excitement as the men, with their smoke helmets adjusted, disappeared one after the other into the manhole. Amid rousing cheers three men were brought up, livid, gasping, and only just alive. It was known that one man, Perry, was still somewhere down there, in that horrible atmosphere, and the most desperate efforts were made to get to him. Firemen after firemen went down, only to be dragged back exhausted after a futile effort to reach the entombed victim. They must have been pretty sure that by this time he was dead, but that made no difference. Dead or alive it was their duty to get this man out, and they stuck to their task with splendid heroism. The fatal tunnel was very narrow, at no part higher than three feet nine inches. Perry was a man of considerable bulk, and it was thought that he had become wedged. The poison down below was worse and far more penetrating than the smoke of an ordinary fire, but the firemen cheerfully took the risk. All the afternoon the gruesome search went on, and at half past four the anxious watchers at the top were signalled to haul up one of the firemen. He was dragged out nervous and dreadfully pallid, and though he was treated on the spot by Dr. Kennedy it was too late. Half an hour later another was hauled up the narrow iron ladder and laid gently on a tarpaulin. He was found to be past all human aid, and the lookers on bared their heads as the body was placed on a motor engine and taken to the mortuary. Traffic was diverted for many hours, the work of rescue being followed with breathless interest by a silent, awestruck crowd. It might well be added that the names of these two self-sacrificing heroes were William McLaren and R. Bibby. Now the object in having given these details in extensive is to emphasise, as well as the ability of the writer will allow, the daily risks of the firefighter, often as in this case devoid of that supreme excitement which prompts many a deed of daring due upon the battlefields, and for those who accomplish the latter there are the thanks of a grateful country, or at least that is the official phraseology. At all events there is recognition of sorts, not the least mark being the esteem in which those comprising the fighting forces are naturally held. There is nothing to be gained by further following this line of thought. It has ever been so, and unless some vast change sweeps over nations and peoples it will ever remain so. The student in his closet, the chemist in his laboratory, the surgeon in his consulting room, and the engineer in his workshop all may devise some great benefit for humanity, but if they expect earthly reward they most assuredly are mistaken. They must look elsewhere for that, for they have no trumpet blowers, and the intelligence of the individual as a rule does not stray beyond the pages of his favourite paper, which formulates his ideas, prearranges his opinions, and supplies him with arguments along almost automatic lines. Hence it is as well that all connected with the firefighting profession should leave notoriety to others to whom it is as the breath of life, and who find solace in well-turned, laudatory phrases, rather than in a quiet conviction that they have done their best. The student of history must sometimes wonder how men of the stamp of Lincoln, Washington, Benbeau, Burke, Wellington, and of course that immortal hero Nelson, would have thought of the brass band, press agent, limelight form of publicity, which today is so often regarded as the hallmark of meritorious service. However the mole, if it works unseen, accomplishes a deal of tunneling, as is eventually ascertained, and the fire core of the world, though the sphere of their usefulness may not be readily appreciated, can afford to await developments. There is, however, springing up in many quarters a proper realization of what fire risks actually are, and to that end private organizations are being instituted for the scientific and careful study of the problems involved. This in itself is a healthy sign, while annual fire conventions, of which one is to be held in New York this year, do a great deal toward advancing the interests of the firefighter, and arousing the attention of the public in his career. And in addition, since a rope is made of many strands, these conventions assist toward international friendship and a better comprehension of national characteristics. There is a talk of international arbitration in the air, reduction of armaments and the submission of points of difference to referees. Hence every action which tends toward amity between nations is to be commended. And what more natural than that the united enemies of a common foe, the allied forces of intelligent and scientific action against not a national but a universal peril, should meet from time to time to suggest and adopt the most comprehensive means of checking the same. And such united action of human fighters against an elemental antagonist, will it is devoutly to be hoped tend toward the elimination of the national fighter, not because the latter is unnecessary to the life of a nation as at present constituted, but rather because peace is the greatest of blessings, and will bring in its train scientific development along the most useful and beneficial of lines to the common wheel. To the youth of all nations the writer would make the following appeal. The career of the firefighter is one of the most enthralling that the mind of man can conceive, and in its present stage of development it promises a remarkable field for the enterprising and enthusiastic. It has been shown that the days when the fireman was merely an automaton using a pail of water and a hatchet, when discretion and intelligence were useless owing to the undeveloped state of the science, and when any unskilled labourer could accomplish all that was required, are gone forever. In its place is a calling which is emerging from its chrysalis of obscurity to take its proper position amongst the recognized and esteemed professions of the world. While, as has been pointed out in the preceding pages, it does not offer the financial returns or popular recognition attached to other occupations, it does promise a sufficiency. If followed with determination, positions of responsibility are within reach, and what the future holds for the fireman no one can foresee. More unlikely things have occurred in the evolution of society than the formation of a national force of firemen, paid and recruited by the government, and having in their charge the fire risks of the community as a whole, worthy successors to the soldier and the sailor, if that time ever arrives when the sword shall be laid aside for the plowshare, and who shall say that it will not? Which brings the writer to the end of his labours? The day is closing in, and the lights are beginning to twinkle across the harbour of New York, as though beckoning to the wanderer to lay aside the cares of the moment, and find rest and safety within their embrace. And somehow there steals across the evening air a vague feeling of sadness, the consciousness that many hands generously extended in the past as tokens of friendship and girdens for courage will never again be clasped, that the enemy fire has reaped a rich harvest, and that in dealing in pen and ink with the antagonist of a lifetime, in the words of that great empire-builder Cecil Rhodes, there has been so much to do, so little done. But nonetheless, from the writer's array overlooking the restless Hudson, bearing upon its broad bosom the commerce of the Seven Seas, he holds out his hand, in greeting to the new recruit, in friendship to the active rank and file, and in congratulation to the veteran firefighters the world over, in all climes, in all cities, in all countries, the greatest brotherhood of the world for the common wheel. End of section 26. Recording by Maria Casper. End of Fires and Firefighters by John Kenlon.